Want to learn more about bees, and what to plant to attract them to your garden?

The Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, a half-acre bee garden operated by the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, will host an open house, the last one of 2018, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 22.

The garden, planted in the fall of 2009, is located on Bee Biology Road, next to the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, west of the central campus. Director of the haven is Extension apiculturist Elina L. Niño.

"In addition to our popular catch-and-release bee activity, we'll be holding a plant and solitary bee house sale," said academic program manager Christine Casey. (See the plant list.)

Photographer Allan Jones of Davis will showcase some of his insect images. He frequently photographs bees in the haven and in the UC Davis Arboretum.

Visitors can also see recommendations about what to plant for bees this fall, including information from the ongoing research trials.

The garden was founded and "came to life" during the term of interim department chair, Professor Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology, who coordinated the entire project. A Sausalito team--landscape architects Donald Sibbett and Ann F. Baker, interpretative planner Jessica Brainard and exhibit designer Chika Kurotaki--designed the garden as the winners of the international competition.

A six-foot long mosaic and ceramic sculpture of a worker bee, the work of self-described "rock artist" Donna Billick, anchors the garden. The UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program, founded and directed by the duo of entomologist/artist Diane Ullman, professor and former chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology, and Billick, coordinated the art in the garden through their classes.

The bee haven is open to the public--no admission--from dawn to dusk. For more information, check out the website at https://beegarden.ucdavis.edu.

(Editor's Note: Those attending might want to make a day of it. The Bohart Museum of Entomology, located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building on Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus, is hosting an open house from 1 to 4 p.m. The theme is "Crafty Insects," featuring sneaky or crafty insects and visitors' crafts. Visitors will be invited to paint rocks, to be hidden on campus or elsewhere. Bohart associates Jeff Smith, curator of the butterfly and moth exhibit and naturalist-photographer Greg Kareofelas will be on hand to shows the collection. The musuem, directed by Lynn Kimsey, professor of entomology at UC Davis, houses a global collection of nearly eight million specimens. In addition to the petting zoo, the museum features a year-around gift shop, which is stocked with T-shirts, sweatshirts, books, jewelry, posters, insect-collecting equipment and insect-themed candy.)